Pinal Today

The Pinal County Board of Supervisors plans to raise $126.5 million through the sale of taxable revenue bonds in order to buy land to use for economic development.

The supervisors held a public hearing in late May to discuss the matter, according to Pinal Central. They did not specify where the land that would be sold is located. That information is covered under a non-disclosure agreement.

The board will consider a resolution on June 22 to sell the bonds. At that time, the specifics of the projects will be made public, Pinal County Manager Leo Lew said. The county would pledge its revenue to repay the bonds, but the business that leased the land would be expected to make the debt payments.

“There would be no county taxpayer-funded money that would be expected to pay this,” Lew told Pinal Central.

Todd House, a former supervisor from Apache Junction, asked if the same zoning scrutiny would be applied to the land the county will purchase. House said this is the case with private land, adding that land usage was a concern.

“I know for a fact we don’t want any industrial anywhere in Gold Canyon,” House told the board during the May meeting. “Those are some things I’d say to think about.”

Supervisor Kevin Cavanaugh asked why a potential business could not secure its own financing for a property, rather than having to lease from the county. 

“Probably nothing would preclude us from doing that,” county financial advisor Mark Reader said. “I think in this particular case we're very confident in that business model, [and] in the liquidity of their capital position, to go ahead and execute.”

Cavanaugh responded by asking, “But you’re not confident enough to loan to them directly?” 

“I wouldn’t say we wouldn’t do that,” Reader said. “As I understand it, they find this to be very attractive as it relates to their expansion plans and business model execution.”

A lessee would have the option to buy the land after four years; then, Pinal County could exercise the option of paying off its bonds, Pinal Central reported.

“We are marketing it as a four-year call option so that the county can retire those bonds early,” Chris Keller, deputy county attorney, told the board.